HENDERSON, Nev. -- The Arizona Western College Matadors finished the 2026 season with a hard-fought 4-2 loss to Cochise College, in an elimination game during the Region I playoffs on Friday afternoon, as a late two-run single ultimately decided a tightly contested conference battle at Morse Stadium.

The game opened as a classic pitcher's duel, with both teams held scoreless through the first three innings. Cochise broke through in the fourth, taking advantage of an Arizona Western error to string together RBI singles from Jorge Cardenas and TJ Shaw Jr. and claim a 2-0 lead. Thijs Helms responded by settling in and limiting further damage, striking out eight across seven innings while surrendering just one earned run.

The Matadors answered in the sixth, capitalizing on clutch hitting and aggressive baserunning. Elias Huber sparked the rally with a single through the right side to plate Luis Angulo, and Jamie Beerman followed with a game-tying RBI single to left center. Despite their ability to string together hits, Arizona Western finished with no walks and left six runners on base, missing key opportunities to extend rallies.

In the ninth, Cochise capitalized on a walk and a double before a two-out, bases-loaded single from Cesar Chavira gave the Apaches a decisive 4-2 advantage. Reliever Filippo Baldassarri was tagged with the loss after working the final two innings. The Matadors finished with eight hits—one each from Ten Shindo, Parker Husu, Matteo Pierre, Gerardo Castro and Dan Kawanishi—but were unable to overcome the late deficit and did not draw a walk.

The Matadors end the season at 39-15 in head coach Jon Wente's first season. It's the most wins in a season for the Matadors since 2022 when they won 44 games.